Let’s talk about Wednesday. Wednesday was a hot storm, warm and wet and slippery in the hallways if you didn’t stop to wipe your shoes. I forgot, a few times. It was a mess. When it stopped for a few hours midday, I was sure the storm warnings were full of it. Lots of “yeah right” and “good job” sarcasm for the forecast early in the afternoon. When the skies parted to drench us and our poorly-irrigated campus later in the day, I took it back.
“I’m sorry, weather gods! Let Georgia be!” But when it rains that much, you sort of have to look out on the wet and smile, sitting dry by the windows of the Cox Hall Food Court while soaked students stomp through the crowded aisles, splashing with each step on their way from one class to another, an appointment, a meeting, nothing stops for the rain, here.
So I went from sarcasm to smile, and my smile turned quickly into a giggle when I found myself shin deep in campus puddles, no rain boots, just my dirty white Converse wet not only from direct canvas contact but from the mucky water pouring generously into the shoes themselves. That put my smile to the test, but the giggle came with the sound of everyone else’s laughter, when with or without the proper equipment we traipsed around and played in dirty water puddles because there was no escaping it on Wednesday.
A going with the flow giggle, a forced deep breath and break from the grind. It’s not supposed to rain anytime soon again in Atlanta, but I won’t mind if it does. We could use excuses to smile now and then.
– By Chloe Olewitz
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.
